Portal 2

Is anyone else a fan of test chambers that are simple, but still require brain power / critical thinking? Anyone can make a map hard by making it huge and complex, but hard simple ones seem pretty scarce in the Portal 2 workshop.

If you too are interested in making, or playing, or brainstorming about this type of map, post your thoughts and links here!

I haven't delved into user made puzzles yet, but what you describe is what I prefer. I was happy that Portal 2 had few (if any? I don't really remember any) sections that required great dexterity.

Me too; most of the second half of Portal 1, while cool, seemed more about just wandering around than solving puzzles, but they really fixed that in the second game. Still though, they could have made them way harder, and been even more creative...which I think is what the user-made levels should be used for. :)

I haven't delved into user made puzzles yet, but what you describe is what I prefer. I was happy that Portal 2 had few (if any? I don't really remember any) sections that required great dexterity.

Me too; most of the second half of Portal 1, while cool, seemed more about just wandering around than solving puzzles, but they really fixed that in the second game. Still though, they could have made them way harder, and been even more creative...which I think is what the user-made levels should be used for. :)

I believe they were constrained by their goals for appealing to a large audience, and felt the need to design puzzles that most people, including kids, would be able to solve after a few minutes or with a small amount of trial and error. I agree that user levels can and should bring puzzles that are more through provoking, and puzzles that require precision timing (for those who prefer those types).

The thing is...this thread was really supposed to be about small, simple, hard chambers, and yours are rather large, complex, and easy. Tell you what, beat the one of the two I posted up top and then we'll talk. :)